Simultaneous determination of low molecular weight amines and quaternary ammonium ions by IC/ESI-MS

A new method for the simultaneous determination of low molecular weight amines and quaternary ammonium ions based on the separation by IC with a suppressor and the detection by MS with ESI has been developed. The method has been applied to the analysis of a mixture containing tetramethylammonium ion, tetraethylammonium ion, tetrapropylammonium ion, triethanolamine, trimethylamine and triethylamine. The constituents were separated by isocratic elution using an IonPac CS17 column, a cation-exchange column, and detected by conductivity and mass spectrometry. The newly developed method for the six components demonstrated that the repeatability in terms of relative standard deviation for three measurements was in the range of 0.1-0.5 %. The detection limits were between 0.2 and 0.9 mu g/mL by the IC/ESI-MS.